Carrier Ethernet provides flexible bandwidth scalability, whereas legacy systems have inflexible bandwidth scalability because of the limitation of the technology. At a time when the world is creating unfathomable amounts of data per day, the last thing you want is for your network to be inflexible regarding bandwidth.

Nowadays, users increasingly want to purchase the amount of bandwidth they only intend to use, instead of being forced to accept bandwidth the technology of a legacy system dictates. As the large legacy Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) private line, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) and Frame Relay markets are being supplanted with new technology, the global carrier Ethernet equipment market will result in seeing a steady growth.

Carrier Ethernet uses high-bandwidth Ethernet for local area network (LAN), metropolitan area network (MAN) and wide area network (WAN) connections, as well as Internet access and communications among a wide variety organizations. It bridges networks together from different locations as if they are in one network, making it more manageable through virtual LAN tools no matter where the equipment is located physically.

Additionally, it can be deployed by conventional Ethernet over synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) as well as over multiprotocol label switching (MPLS). The greatest benefit of Carrier Ethernet, however, is the fact that it can avoid bandwidth bottlenecks – a key element for a world that is increasingly migrating to cloud computing for the majority of its computing needs.

The report answers the market size and growth rate between 2012 and 2016 - a 6.99 percent CAGR leading up to 2016 - key market trends and drivers, as well as the challenges, opportunities, threats, strengths and weaknesses of key vendors.

Although there is great potential in the market for equipment vendors, service providers will experience the greatest windfall if the infrastructure to deliver this technology is made available, especially in the US.

The US geography makes it very difficult and expensive to implement technologies that are much easier to do in more densely populated areas. That is why the fastest broadband speeds are in Asian countries where the total geography is much smaller than the US and the housing infrastructure is largely based on high-rise apartments, such as Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and South Korea.

In order to make broadband access available everywhere in the US, dark fiber is being used to connect wireless towers, data centers, colocation infrastructure, enterprises and public institutions in urban and rural areas nationwide.

Allied Fiber (News - Alert) is a leader in this market, providing its own carrier-neutral fiber optic cable routes across the US. The company’s goal is to have in place the most advanced fiber optic cables in the world so the broadband technology necessary for the global broadband economy will be available for all Americans. It has a five phase plan to cover the country with the best fiber technology to make broadband available everywhere.